How To Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster

However, I quickly learned that I was wrong. All this book attempts to do is teach the young writer about fiction and the many ways it can be approached. Furthermore, Gardner encourages the reader to chart his or her own course when it comes to writing fiction and not feel bound by a set of rules, an idea that I agree with wholeheartedly. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me about this book is that I actually found it enjoyable and interesting to read. Not only did reading this book make me a better writer, it also refreshed my interest in writing fiction, an interest that I may pursue far beyond high school.

Capote made use of many literary techniques in order to grab the interest of his readers. He wanted his novel to be more than just a newspaper description of the crime. Finally, In Cold Blood was a great success because it told a true story in an interesting way. Capote overcame a big milestone by discovering a way to write a nonfiction novel, which appealed to everyone. First, Capote knew that he was creating a new art form when he wrote his greatest work, In Cold Blood.

The Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was entertaining as a written story, but it was even more enjoyable as a film because the movie played out scenes that were only described by dialogue in the book, flushed out the murder plot in a clearer manner, and created more realistic and dynamic characters. Turning older literature into movies that available to the general public prevents them from falling by the way side as many story from the past have a tendency to

The novel had the similar effect of Dan Brown’s novels (The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, Deception Point) with meticulous research and facts, coupled with smart and abstract characters, and a theory or two, making for a convincing novel. But unlike Dan Brown’s novels, told with much suspense, heroism, and a distinctive hard-edged writing style, Time and Again was spun enthrallingly, but with a softer side, in the way character Simon Morley addressed the reader, almost in a conversational way. At some point in the story, most major characters had a moment where I felt as if it was truly summing up the character or their feelings, a moment where I truly felt as if I was seeing a depth in the character that was unknown before. Such as Jake Pickering, Julia Huff’s supposed husband-to-be, and his very unanticipated tattooing of JULIA across his chest – in defiance of Simon’s interference and his assertion of ‘owning’ Julia and her love, a very desperate act by a desperate man. Julia herself had many of these defining moments, but what I felt to be the most striking was her initial reaction the present as Simon took her back into his time.

This is a very simple but effective structure of a novel; Salinger uses Holden to tell the story for himself in a colloquial and direct way to the reader. In the statement the episodic structure is seen as a bad point about the novel but it could also be seen to give the novel its deeper meaning. This deeper meaning is that it makes the novel realistic, this is because life is episodic being split up into hours or days, in each hour or day something new and different happens much like in every chapter in the novel. So the novel becomes a lot easier to follow and relate to. “First person narrative that centres around a single individual whose loosely strung escapades are connected by the fact that they are events in the life of the protagonist and develops the same theme of loneliness and isolation.”(1) The people that Holden meets try to help him overcome these feeling but he always rejects their help leading to his breakdown.

Art of Characterization Aristotle laid utmost stress on the plot in a story, later on, this emphasis shifted to character. Character is less important in symbolic, satirical, stream of consciousness, technique novel or highly experimental novels. A great novel enables us to identify ourselves with hero or heroine and enjoy characters. The most enjoyable fictional characters seem to be very realistic. The pre-independence novelists showed marked tendency to construct regular plot, so as to convey their messages to the readers more effectively.

The more explicit devices of authenticity faded from use, and a new sense of self-awareness emerged as novelists argued for legitimacy within the narrative. In Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, the story is just as important as its construction. The narrator, at times barely distinguishable from the author, frequently intrudes, expounding on the tale but also explaining how and why the narrative works. The meticulous documentation of the "art" of the novel shows that writing novels (as well as reading them) is not idle work. By Jane Austen's time, the genre had a clear enough definition of itself that her narrators rarely occasioned to intrude like Fielding's.

I think it is safe to say that it is more common to hear “the book is much better than the movie” than the other way around. I like to read a good book and I love a good movie. If you consider all the failed attempts to convert great books into great movies, it is obvious that the task of transforming the books' story to a movie is not quite easy. With books, we can enter the minds of our characters in a way that we just cannot do in the audio-visual medium of film. We create the visuals with our imagination in books, but a good movie brings those visuals to life.

One criticism I have is that occasionally some concepts are redundant, extending the book and drawing out the process of reading. However, the author probably reiterated intentionally to ensure that the reader understands the idea and the supporting logic. Yet I still highly recommend keeping it on the book list, because it is simultaneously insightful, educational, and entertaining. Works Cited Gilbert, Daniel T. Stumbling on Happiness. New York: Vintage Books, 2007.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, with its unique style that attracts the attention of the reader from the very beginning is a good example of self reflexive fiction. Self reflexive fiction, improving and changing from the time of Tristram Shandy has found a new life at the hands of Dave Eggers. He offers the reader to take an active role in his reading. "The Rules and Suggestions for Enjoyment of This Book" section addresses directly to the reader saying "if you have already read the preface and wish you had not, we apologize"or he begins the second part saying "Please look. Can you see us?